


Solace for the Lonely God

by lunaseemoony



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Children, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Time War, Spirits, The X-Files References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 18:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6918850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaseemoony/pseuds/lunaseemoony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>« <i>No amount of heartache could return lives that had been lost. The human he had quickly come to admire inspired her to show the lonely god what his hearts might never allow. </i>»</p>
            </blockquote>





	Solace for the Lonely God

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by The X-Files episode [Closure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXnAIgeVGt4), and also [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8miMg3xBN2s) that accompanied it.

In the quiet hours aboard an ancient time ship a lonely god watched the balm for his soul sleep peacefully on one of the library’s couches beside him. Was her bright young mind dancing with adventures yet to be had, of her next discovery of the universe’s many wonders, of spreading her uncommon warmth across it? No amount of pondering could distract the lonely god from from the fresh wounds in his own mind and hearts. 

Consumed by pain and guilt, the lonely god struggled with his new companion’s determination that he not wander the universe by himself. He never spoke the words but the ship felt his heartache convincing him he didn’t deserve to be accompanied by such vibrant young life after slaying so many with the choice that tore his hearts asunder. The burden of peace and the anguish of war had a firm grip on his own tranquility that this beautiful creature beside him possessed so effortlessly. 

His time ship hadn’t asked, but felt moved by her lonely god’s plight, her own mechanical heart unable to withstand his pain flooding her telepathic field. What she could do for him was no fix. No amount of heartache could return lives that had been lost. The human he had quickly come to admire inspired her to show the lonely god what his hearts might never allow. 

The imagination of the children of Gallifrey were once nurtured by an uncommonly fanciful tale among their people. Some believed in a place outside the confines of known space where the spirits of their people whose lives had run out gathered beneath a blanket of twinkling stars long since dead. If her Time Lord had ever believed in it, he certainly would not allow himself following the war. The notion was far too comforting for his self-condemnation to accommodate. Whether or not the TARDIS ‘believed’ was irrelevant, she could make _him_  believe, with the help of a young heart full of hope that she herself was growing attached to. 

Of her own accord she traveled to the farthest reaches of the universe as her Time Lord raced to the console room to ascertain ‘what had gotten into her.’ By the time he reached it she had already landed. She knew finally that he had never believed this unnamed, fabled little corner of the universe existed when he stood frozen in her doorway. His knees wobbled, threatening to send him falling to the ground at the sight before him. 

Yet even in his hearts he struggled to accept what he saw with his own eyes. _She_  did this for him, drawn out barefoot in her pyjamas onto dewy blades of starlit grass by the impossible and untouched scene laid out before her. Brilliant little creature she was, his companion recognized his stony face and offered a hand of comfort as she succumbed to her curiosity. He answered only with tears, one for each heart. His story of the fate of his people was fresh on her mind. He cried not for their deaths scarring his hearts, but for the symphony of the happy children of Gallifrey displayed before him that he didn’t deserve. They danced beneath lost stars and sang a song lost to their people. They smiled pure, unsullied smiles. Nothing could touch them here.

With her arms wrapped about his, Rose Tyler offered the lonely god words of solace his time ship could never have articulated herself. It was he who brought them to peace, sparing them from the atrocities they may have faced. She said he didn’t have to believe in whatever state of being these children found themselves in there in that tucked away, forbidden little corner of space. He didn’t even have to believe his own eyes or gather up a bit of whimsy that might allow him to accept it. His hopeful young human held him up, keeping him from crumpling to the ground as she promised him that no matter what he felt, the lives lost would never have to face the ravages of war and death again. 

When they finally returned to the little couch in the library it was he who slept in place of his companion, lulled by the children’s song she recalled and sang for him. That was the first night their Time Lord slept since the war, with his head in her lap and his hearts in her hands.


End file.
